Dunedin is not my favorite place at the best of times. Its very grey, cold and rains a lot and during this bad weather there is not much to do so coming to a backpackers that is a good twenty minutes out of the city and on a steep hill and even steeper driveway, i was not impressed with this backpackers at all. As a seasoned traveller I have stayed at many backpackers and this was by far the worst one i have stayed at. I understand that dunedin may not offer top quality accommodation on the same level as a large city like auckland, london or sydney but still, the room was old, the beds creaked and the mattresses were so thin everyone complained of back ache in the morning. There was one bathroom for three ten bedroom dormitories downstairs and one bathroom upstairs which was not clean, had a faulty lock on it and as you could imagine had a queue. There was no lock on the rooms during the day which was terrible and intrusive. The majority of backpackers have swipe cards or at the very least a private door key but this dorm which contained ten of us (it was a group booking made by a mutual friend) had no lock except a code which was not activated until after 8pm at night. The kitchen was small and dirty and not even a tad big enough for all the people that were staying at the time. There was no free tea or coffee and I did not see the managers except to ask about a pay phone and I was pretty much barked at. There was no sense of homely atmosphere and customer service did not exist.
For twenty dollars a night however, i guess one cannot be picky. I tend to pay a little extra and stay in a more comfortable secure backpackers but i did not book this one as the person who did was a cheap skate who wanted to forgo general necessities for cost.
cutting.
Bad location, bad kitchen and bathroom, bad service and extremely dusty and unsafe when it rained as one could slip on steep driveway, forget baldwin street!! Walk up this driveway in the rain if you want to be pushed beyond your limits
DO NOT STAY

The rooms were spacious and warm and the staff were frinedly, I just felt it could do with a facelift but could still keep its character. The kitchen was a bit cramped and not everythin seemed to be working.

I camped here for twice because this is the only hostel in city providing tent site. They have two old houses but still good and beautiful. Facilities are above average, just its location is a bit far from city, it takes about 15mins to walk. The dinning area in the back house is smaller than the front house, they only have one table near the kitchen in the back house.

I stayed three nights in this hostel. The house itself is rather nice and old, unfortunately the insides are a bit old too - the kitchen and living room area could do with a bit of a shakeup. It's clean enough though, and has that comfy feeling of home.

The staff are very friendly and will help with anything you're wanting to do. As someone else said, the rooms have no keys which is a little bit annoying but it's not the most crowded hostel around so that's ok. The internet is really, really slow!

What I liked though is that it was fairly quiet, something I had been looking for in my choice of hostel, because I wanted to avoid a crowded dorm full of snorers and a living room/kitchen taken over by a backpacker bus' content! And quiet it was, I had the dorm to myself in fact, and plenty of space to cook and hang out, as did the other few guests!

In short, a comfy, quiet stay, relatively close to the center still (5-10 min walk), but perhaps not recommended if you like your facilities sparkling new!